This invention relates generally to agricultural balers for making bales of crop material and, in particular, to the knotters used on such balers for securing strands of twine around bales of crop material.
Knotters on agricultural balers generally include a billhook for tying a knot in a strand of twine that has been wrapped around a bale. The billhook usually has a pair of jaws, one of which is movable by providing a cam follower on a heel portion of the movable jaw arranged to engage a cam surface formed on a cam member. Typically, the cam member has been formed as an integral part of the main frame of the knotter. Therefore, when the cam surface becomes so worn that the billhook no longer operates properly and efficiently, the entire main frame of the knotter must be replaced in order to provide a new cam surface for the cam follower. Replacing the knotter main frame requires removal of the knotter from the baler and disassembly of the knotter.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a replaceable cam member for a knotter that may be easily replaced without replacing the entire knotter frame and without removing the knotter from the baler. The replaceable cam member has a cam section, on which a cam surface is formed, and a flange section. Fastener means extend through the flange section into the knotter main frame to detachably fasten the cam member to the knotter main frame.